MainsMeze & olive-oil dishes Turkish
Mushroom güveç (baked in a clay pot)
A Turkish clay-pot bake of mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes cooked in butter and their own rich juices, with an optional melted-cheese topping.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 45 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
Button mushroom
Güveçte mantar, mushrooms baked in a güveç, is a favourite hot meze in Turkish grill houses and meyhanes. A güveç is a glazed earthenware pot that heats slowly and evenly, so the mushrooms cook gently in their own juices with the vegetables and leave behind a thick sauce that begs to be mopped up with bread.
Serve it in small individual pots as a meze, or bake it in one large dish and serve it with rice as a main course. No clay pot? A regular ovenproof dish works perfectly well.
Ingredients
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For the güveç
For the top (optional)
Method
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-
Wipe the mushrooms clean and trim the dry ends of the stalks; quarter the large ones and halve the small ones. Chop the onion, peppers and tomatoes and slice the garlic.
~12 min -
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the onion and peppers over a medium heat for 4–5 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and tomato paste and stir for another minute until the paste smells sweet.
~6 min -
Toss the cooked vegetables with the raw mushrooms, tomatoes, thyme, chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Spread everything in a clay pot (güveç) or a medium ovenproof dish and dot the butter over the top.
~3 min -
If you're using a clay pot, put it into a cold oven and then set it to 200 °C (180 °C fan), as a sudden change in temperature can crack it. A regular ovenproof dish can go straight into an oven preheated to 200 °C. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes, until the mushrooms have released their juices, the sauce has thickened and the edges are starting to brown.
~30 min -
If using cheese, take the pot out, scatter over the grated kaşar and return it to the oven for 5–7 minutes, until melted and spotted with brown.
~6 min -
Remove from the oven and let it rest for 3 minutes; set a clay pot on a wooden board, as it stays very hot. Scatter with parsley and serve in the pot with rice pilaf or fresh bread.
~3 min
Enjoy!
The mushroom in this recipe
Mushroom swaps
- Chestnut / cremini mushroom Agaricus bisporusReleases less water in the oven, giving a richer sauce.
Oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatusCooks faster; cut the baking time by 10 minutes.
King oyster mushroom Pleurotus eryngiiCut into thick rounds; it keeps its meaty texture in the oven.
Tips
- Soak a new clay pot in water overnight before its first use, always put it into a cold oven, and never set a hot pot down on a cold or wet surface.
- For small individual pots, reduce the baking time to 20–25 minutes.
- If the sauce is still too thin, give it another 5 minutes uncovered before adding the cheese.
Storage
Once cool, keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat thoroughly in the oven or a pan. The cheese-topped version doesn't freeze well.
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Kitchen guides
Before you cook: clean, store, dry
How to clean mushroomsPractical ways to clean everything from button mushrooms to morels without waterlogging them or ruining their texture.
How to store mushroomsHow to keep fresh, cooked, frozen and dried mushrooms at their best — and how to tell when they’ve gone bad.
How to dry mushroomsA step-by-step guide to drying mushrooms at home in the oven, in a dehydrator or on a string — and how to store and rehydrate them.